PRESCOTT, AZ — It is the unmistakable first sign of autumn - leaves tumbling to the ground all over Prescott's iconic downtown plaza. It is a sure sign a new season is here, and former Prescott Mayor Greg Mengarelli is beginning a new season of his own.
It is a season without someone with whom he was very close.
"I expect him to be at the truck to go hunting," explains Mayor Mengarelli to ABC15's Nick Ciletti. "It's still a bit surreal."
It was back on September 6, barely a month ago, that Mengarelli's life, and the lives of his wife, children, and grandchildren, would change forever.
"We were having a great time," explains Mengarelli.
But their family day at Lake Powell quickly took a tragic turn for Mengarelli's oldest son.
"Cameron decided he wanted to do a back-flip, which we had been doing...jumping off the houseboat into the water, all weekend."
But Mengarelli explains, this time, something went terribly wrong.
"This particular time, he landed wrong and looked like he might have been knocked out...his brother-in-law was yelling for everyone to get into the water, and so we went right where he was, but it was 15 feet of water and we couldn't find him."
Mengarelli explains it was agonizing to have to leave the lake that night without his son.
"That was hard and difficult to know that he's right there, but you can't get to him," he says.
Mengarelli says the incident made him feel "utterly helpless," and that all he could do was hold onto hope.
But sadly, Utah deputies would deliver the devastating news the next day. Cameron's body had been recovered.
Cameron left behind a wife, three young children, and several siblings who loved him deeply.
What happened that day at Lake Powell, you could argue, is any parent's worst nightmare. And sadly, it is a nightmare that Mengarelli and his wife have endured before.
In 2020, Mengarelli says his daughter, Brooklyn, who had epilepsy, had a seizure and died in a hot tub.
"It's interesting, Nick, just the similarity with how both of them passed on to the next life," explains Mengarelli. "We just had gotten some peace of losing Brooklyn, and just to have this happen was devastating. My wife and I kept saying, 'we don't want this again.'"
Mengarelli describes his family as large, hands-on, and full of love, and says luckily, he didn't leave much unsaid with Cameron or Brooklyn. But if given the chance for one more conversation, he told ABC15, "I would just say, 'I love you, so glad that I had the opportunity to be your dad, I am so proud of you for the lives you lived on this earth.'"
If you'd like to donate to Cameron's family as they cope with this loss, click here.
